When multiple computerized devices interact with each other at close range, they may employ sensors such as cameras and laser range finders to map their environment. As understood herein, three-dimensional (3D) depth maps may be generated by each device of the other devices or objects within line of sight. Such 3D depth maps are generated typically using “time of flight” principles, i.e., by timing the periods from laser transmission to reception of each reflection, with regions of an object further away taking longer for the light to propagate to it and then return to a detector. The time of flight for each detected reflection by a sensor, typically a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera, is converted to distance to generate the depth map.
As understood herein, a problem with time of flight 3D camera mapping systems is signal noise owing to multipath interference. Objects such as the surface the object being mapped is on, walls, the floor, the ceiling, and objects nearby the object being mapped can contribute to reflections that are received and thus interfere with computing the 3D depth map of the object sought to be mapped. Computationally intensive algorithms have been introduced to reduce the effect of multipath on a TOF 3D depth mapping system, but present principles seek to avoid the use of such algorithms and their concomitant processing and power consumption demands.